Emmaus, PA and New York, NY, March 16, 2010—Rodale Inc. today announced the release of Organic Manifesto: How Organic Farming Can Heal Our Planet, Feed the World, and Keep Us Safe by Rodale Chairman & CEO Maria Rodale. Organic Manifesto cuts through the confusion and misinformation to provide an indispensable and highly readable look at why chemical-free farming unquestionably holds the key to better health for people and for the planet.

Through interviews with government officials, doctors, scientists, business leaders, and farmers coast-to-coast, Rodale sheds new light on the state of 21st-century farming and connects the dots to get to the heart of an issue that is much bigger than most of us even realize. She examines the alliances that have formed between chemical companies that produce fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and genetically altered seeds, the agricultural educational system that is virtually subsidized by those same companies, and the government agencies in thrall to powerful lobbyists, all of which perpetuate dangerous farming practices and deliberate misconceptions about organic farming and foods.

Over the last 100 years, chemical companies have misled consumers into thinking that we cannot survive without GMOs or chemicals. The truth, Rodale uncovers, is that chemicals in our food are poisoning our families and are linked with cases of asthma, allergies, autism, ADHD, cancer, diabetes, infertility, obesity, genital malformations, accelerated ageing, organ failure, and several other serious conditions.

“All of us, especially our children, are guinea pigs in a giant chemical experiment that has failed,” said Rodale. “There are over 80,000 chemicals used in our environment, and especially in agriculture, and most have never been tested on human health. The majority of Americans can’t tell you the difference between organic and natural, and the reality is that many researchers are finding that there is no such thing as a ‘safe’ dose of chemicals. This concerns me, and I wanted to make the issues easy to understand so that we can all stand together and fight for what’s right. Rodale Inc. was founded on the belief that organic farming is the key to better health both for us and for the planet, and never has this message been more urgent.”

Said Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, in his foreword: “This book conveys the importance of the organic movement, at a time when a handful of corporations are trying to control our food supply, when climate change and future petroleum shortages threaten the entire basis of today’s industrial agriculture. This book is full of Maria’s wisdom, optimism, and common sense. In a remarkably brief period of time, we have done tremendous damage to the environment and to ourselves. Here you will find how we can start to undo it.”

As Chairman & CEO of Rodale Inc., the world’s leading multimedia company with a focus on health, wellness, and the environment, Rodale is also the Editor-in-Chief of the company’s newest online venture, Rodale.com, which features the latest news and information about healthy living on a healthy planet, as well as her blog, Maria’s Farm Country Kitchen. She joined Rodale in 1987, first working in circulation and direct marketing and eventually leading Rodale’s in-house direct-marketing agency. In 1998, she served as director of strategy, where she led the strategic review, planning processes, and management changes that refocused the company on publishing information on healthy, active lifestyles. Rodale also led the company’s Organic Living division, Rodale’s first integrated-brand division, where she was the Editor-in-Chief of Organic Gardening and oversaw all of Rodale’s gardening books. She joined the Rodale board in 1991 and was elected chairman in 2007. She lives in an ecologically friendly house in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, with her husband and three children.

Continued Rodale, “Consumers have the power to change things. Every purchase we make rewards either the good or the bad. If you demand organic—at our supermarkets, restaurants, and from the government—we can protect ourselves and our planet.”

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About Rodale Inc.
Rodale is a global media company with a heritage, mission, and authority dedicated to the health and wellness of the individual, community, and planet. Through a broad portfolio of leading media properties, Rodale reaches more than 70 million people around the world through multiple distribution channels, including magazines, books, online, e-commerce, direct-to-consumer, and video. The company publishes some of the best-known health and wellness lifestyle magazines, including Men’s Health, Prevention, Women’s Health, Runner’s World, Bicycling, Running Times, and Organic Gardening, and is the largest independent book publisher in the United States, with a collection of bestselling titles, including Vice President Al Gore’s Our Choice, Flat Belly Diet!, and Eat This, Not That! Rodale is also a leader in direct-response marketing and has more than 25 million active customers in its database. www.rodale.com